Review: Sizzle: A global warming comedy directed by Randy Olson

"I NEED a tighter ass, tighter ass," the cameraman says. He and his crew are in a Senate office building in Washington DC, setting up to record an interview. The cameraman is trying to get the lighting right, but the sound man, standing in for the interviewer Randy Olson, is too laid back to make a convincing scientist. Until he clenches, that is, and in a perfect professorial voice intones, "My name is Dr Olson." The goofy scene epitomises the central question of the movie: why can't scientists learn to chill out?

Sizzle: A global warming comedy recently opened at a run of film festivals across the US. This excellent, thoughtful comedy should be required viewing for those who take global climate change seriously, those who don't, and the scientists who are trying to reach out to both.